After
Less
Andrew Sean Greer2017
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
5 of 6 directions open — nothing to recover from
More like it
- pace-1prose0bleak0
The muses are heard
Truman Capote1956
A journalist follows an American theater troupe as they travel to the Soviet Union to perform Porgy and Bess during the Cold War.
Same wry register, still fish out of water
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Foreign Affairs
Alison Lurie1984
Two American academics in London navigate unexpected romantic entanglements while conducting research.
Same wry register, still fish out of water
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace-1prose0bleak+1
Almost English
Charlotte Mendelson2013
A teenage girl living in a claustrophobic household of Hungarian exiles in London struggles to fit in at an elite boarding school.
Same wry register, still fish out of water
pace-1·prose0·bleak+1
- pace0prose0bleak0
The Taming of the Shrew
William Shakespeare
A suitor attempts to break the headstrong spirit of a wealthy woman through psychological games and deprivation to secure her dowry.
wry → playful, still comedy
pace0·prose0·bleak0
1 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose-1bleak0
Get Shorty
Elmore Leonard1990
A Miami loan shark travels to Las Vegas and then Hollywood to collect a debt. He decides to become a movie producer using his mob skills.
Same wry register, still comedy
pace0·prose-1·bleak0
Denser prose
- pace-2prose+1bleak+1
Ulysses
James Joyce1914
Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.
wry → playful
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner1915
The Bundren family travels by wagon to bury their matriarch. Fifteen different narrators describe the journey as the corpse decomposes.
wry → sardonic
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
Gravity's Rainbow
Thomas Pynchon1973
During the end of WWII, an American lieutenant's sexual encounters seem to predict where German V-2 rockets will fall. The narrative is fragmented.
wry → sardonic
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace0prose+1bleak+3
A Brief History of Seven Killings
Marlon James2014
A large cast of characters recounts the 1976 attempt on Bob Marley's life. The narrative spans decades and moves from Jamaica to New York.
wry → propulsive
pace0·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace-1prose+1bleak+2
Briefing for a Descent into Hell
Doris Lessing1971
A man is found wandering London and placed in a psychiatric ward. The narrative shifts between the hospital and his internal cosmic hallucinations.
wry → dreamlike
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2
Faster
- pace+1prose-2bleak0
The Android's Dream
John Scalzi2006
A diplomat must find a specific, genetically engineered sheep to prevent an interstellar war. The story is a fast-paced, irreverent space comedy.
wry → playful, still comedy
pace+1·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+1prose-2bleak0
Dial A for Aunties
Jesse Q. Sutanto2021
A photographer accidentally kills her blind date. Her mother and aunties help hide the body during a massive luxury wedding.
wry → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace+1prose-2bleak0
Chilling Effect
Valerie Valdes2019
A spaceship captain completes dangerous missions to pay off a ransom for her kidnapped sister. The crew includes a pilot who is a sentient plant.
wry → playful, still comedy
pace+1·prose-2·bleak0
- pace+1prose-2bleak+1
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Matt Dinniman2020
Earth is converted into an 18-level televised death game. A man and a cat must navigate traps and monsters to survive.
wry → sardonic, still comedy
pace+1·prose-2·bleak+1
- pace+1prose-1bleak+2
Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
wry → tense
pace+1·prose-1·bleak+2
Slower
- pace-2prose+1bleak+1
Ulysses
James Joyce1914
Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.
wry → playful
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-2prose+1bleak+3
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
wry → elegiac
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace-2prose+1bleak+2
Umbrella
Will Self2013
A psychiatrist in 1971 treats a woman who has been catatonic for decades. The prose shifts between eras and consciousnesses without paragraph breaks.
wry → clinical
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+2
- pace-2prose+1bleak+3
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
wry → bleak
pace-2·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace-2prose0bleak+2
The English Patient
Michael Ondaatje1992
Four people shelter in a ruined Italian villa at the end of WWII. They care for a burned, anonymous man who recounts his past in the desert.
wry → elegiac
pace-2·prose0·bleak+2
Heavier
wry → bleak
- pace-1prose+1bleak+3
The Road
Cormac McCarthy2006
A father and son walk through a landscape of ash and scavengers toward the coast. They carry only what fits in a shopping cart.
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+3
- pace0prose0bleak+3
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead2016
Two slaves escape a Georgia plantation via a literal underground train system while being pursued by a slave catcher.
pace0·prose0·bleak+3
3 more ↓ ↑
- pace0prose0bleak+3
Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood2003
A man survives a genetic apocalypse in a world of engineered creatures. He remembers his past with a scientist and the woman they both loved.
wry → sardonic
pace0·prose0·bleak+3
- pace-1prose0bleak+3
A Little Life
Hanya Yanagihara2015
Four friends in New York over thirty years. One of them is being destroyed, and the book does not look away.
pace-1·prose0·bleak+3
- pace0prose-1bleak+3
Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut1969
Billy Pilgrim becomes unstuck in time, experiencing his life out of order, from his chaplaincy in WWII to his abduction by aliens.
wry → sardonic
pace0·prose-1·bleak+3
